Arts & Entertainment
Dante James: The Huey P. Newton Documentary
D
ante James is an Emmy Award-
winning independent filmmaker
who has produced and directed
critically-acclaimed documentary and
dramatic films. He is also the assistant
director of the African Cultural Center
at North Carolina State University
(NCSU).
Prior to joining the faculty at NCSU,
he was an Artist in Residence and
Instructor at Duke University. In 2006,
he won a National Emmy for his work
as series producer of the well-received PBS series, “Slavery
and the Making of America.” James’ most recent offering,
“Harlem in Montmartre: A Paris Jazz Story,” was awarded
Best Documentary at the 2010 Pan African International
Film Festival in Cannes, France.
In 2008 he wrote, produced and directed “The Doll,” an
adaptation of a classic short story by Charles W. Chesnutt.
That picture received the Best Dramatic Short Film Award
at that year’s Hollywood Black Film Festival.
Earlier in his career, Dante executive produced the PBS
series, “This Far by Faith” for Black-
side Films in Boston, Mass. He was
also honored with the DuPont
Columbia Silver Baton for his work
at Blackside.
Mr. James has a Bachelor of Arts
Degree from Grand Valley State
University and a Master of Arts in
Liberal Studies from Duke Universi-
ty. In 2008 he was awarded an hon-
orary Ph.D., a Doctorate of Humane Letters by Grand
Valley State University.
During the summer of 2010 he served as a guest lecturer
at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. And he
plans to return to Cape Town to make a film with a black
South African resident of the Khayelitsha Township. A
member of the Directors Guild of America and the Writers
Guild of America, Dante is currently developing an inde-
pendent feature-length documentary about Huey P. Newton
and
the
Black
Panther
Party.
See:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1649581507/the-story-
of-huey-p-newton-and-the-black-panther-p
Kam Williams: Hi, Dante, thanks for the interview. How
ya been, bro?
Dante James: Hi Kam, thank you for your continued
interest in my work. The last few months
have been really busy. I’m enjoying my
C ELEBRITY responsibilities as assistant director of
I NTERVIEW NCSU’s African-American Cultural Center
and all of my film projects. The independ-
ent feature and, of course, the feature docu-
by Kam
mentary on Huey P. Newton and the Black
Williams
Panther Party are moving forward.
KW: What interested you in doing a doc-
umentary about Huey Newton?
DJ: As a young person, I was interested
in the Black Panther Party and their efforts
to serve the needs of the community while also having the
courage to confront oppressive exploitative forces in the
community. That interest grew as I got older and, as you are
aware, all of my films explore some aspect of the African
American experience. So, a film on Huey P. Newton and the
Black Panther Party is an opportunity to grow intellectual-
ly while also exploring an often misrepresented movement.
KW: Do you think that the Panthers have been slighted
by history because J. Edgar Hoover was so successful at
destroying the Party?
DJ: That is a very interesting ques-
tion. I think the misrepresentations of
the Black Panther Party are certainly
connected to J. Edgar Hoover and his
unrelenting efforts to destroy the Party.
For about ten years, Hoover illegally
used the power of the federal govern-
ment along with black informants to
create dissention within the Party and
to present a negative image of the Party
to the general public. Additionally, in concert with local
police officials, Hoover used brutal force in his effort to
destroy the Black Panther Party. The images and accounts
of these efforts have misrepresented the Black Panther
Party movement. Historically, and even today, external
forces including the government, the mainstream corporate
media and academics have defined the Black Panther Party.
This film will be the first to tell the story of the Black Pan-
thers from inside the Party. Black Panther Party members
will define themselves and their movement.
KW: How did you get David Hilliard to participate in the
project?
DJ: Actually David who was Huey P. Newton’s child-
hood friend, a founding member of the Party and its Chief
of Staff, approached me. David also led the Party during the
Emmy-Winning
Director Invites
Investors in Black
Panther Biopic
time that Huey and Bobby Seale were incarcerated. David
and I spent several months talking about the film in terms
of a conceptual framework at the same time that I conduct-
ed my own research. During these conversations David
would tell me these incredible stories about Huey’s vision
for the party, the inner workings of the party, the mistakes
they made, the successful maneuvers, and the pain and
agony of the murder of Party members. One of the main
misconceptions of the party is grounded in the concept of
armed struggle. While there were factions of the party who
pushed an armed struggle agenda, that was not Huey’s
vision. This was a leading source of tension within the Party
and it will be a major story focus of the film.
KW: What about Bobby
Seale, who I think of as the
only
other
surviving
founder of the Black Pan-
thers?
DJ: I haven’t had a
chance to speak to Bobby
Seale yet. I have been work-
ing very closely with David
Hilliard and I’m thrilled to
have the support of Fredrika
Newton, Huey’s widow and
the president of The Dr.
Huey P. Newton Founda-
Dante James
tion. Of course, we want to
and will speak to Bobby
Seale but the story of the Black Panther Party, in essence, is
the story of Huey Newton. Huey had his own personal
issues. He was complex, he was brilliant, and he was a stu-
dent of history, politics and economic theory. Clearly, Huey
P. Newton was the leader and standard bearer of the Black
Panther Party.
KW: What sort of archival footage will you have access
to?
DJ: David was very forward thinking in terms of the lega-
cy of the Black Panther Party. He has every issue of the
newspaper, hours of unseen film footage and unheard audio
recordings, documents and correspondence. It’s these
materials that will facilitate our efforts to tell the story of
Huey Newton and the Black Panthers from inside the Party.
To that end, we need support from the public to raise the
development funds to cata-
logue these materials and to
have film footage cleaned
and transferred to a digital
format. We are asking that
conscious and critical think-
ing individuals go to Kick-
starter.com and contribute
to the project. It is essential
Specializing in *short sales
that people contribute today
* bank owned properties
because we only have 21
* first time home buyers
days left to raise the devel-
* investment properties
opment funds at Kick-
* residential & commercial
starter.com.
KW: Will you also be
looking at documents made
available by the Freedom of
Information Act proving the
U.S. government’s infiltra-
tion of and war on the Pan-
Torrey Nelson
thers via the FBI’s
C: 503-381-2107
Cointelpro program?
W: 503-208-3797
DJ: Another major story
F: 503-536-6523
line
is the violence and
E: mrtnel@gmail.com
oppression
of the Black
www.dwellrealtypdx.com
Panther Party under the aus-
5625 NE MLK Jr. Blvd.
Portland, OR 97211
See HUEY on page 11
Page 6 The Portland Skanner July 11, 2012